"Oh my god," Alison laughed hysterically, "Did you actually say 'who wants to hug you?' and then run away from your own husband?"
She hadn't stopped laughing since she showed Sienna the media photo of her and Damon embracing in the garden and Sienna had confessed what had actually happened to her.
"I panicked, okay!" Sienna huffed.
This sent Alison into a fresh round of laughter.
"Stop laughing at me," Sienna grumbled, "I don't have your luck with romance so let's just make sure I can support myself."
"I don't know," Alison teased, "Seems like Damon is very prepared to support you."
"Well, we don't know if Damon is sincere so let's just focus on this," Sienna snapped, sharper than she had meant to be.
Immediately, Alison picked up on her best friend's change in tone and she grew serious.
"Hey, is everything okay?" She touched Sienna lightly on the arm, "You know you can talk to me about anything, right?"
She suspected Sienna and Damon were off to a rough start, but Sienna had sounded hurt just now.
Sienna nodded hesitantly.
Alison frowned, Damon might be the king of the business world, but if he made Sienna upset, Alison wouldn't hesitate to make him pay!
"Alright, let's figure out who we want as our spokesperson," She went with the topic change and hoped it would distract Sienna.
"I was thinking of Jun Slater," Sienna bit her lip. Alison mentally patted herself on the back.
Sienna didn't have a reputation in the industry, but once you got to know her, she was one hundred percent devoted to her work.
"You mean the hottest star at the moment?" Alison processed it, arching a perfectly shaped eyebrow, "He's notoriously difficult to work with."
Sienna sighed, "I know, but I think it's worth a shot. He's got so many fans, if we can get him onboard, it could make a world of difference for us."
Alison just stared skeptically at her.
They might have been apart for a couple of years, but Sienna still could read her best friend like the back of her hand.
"I'll go and invite him personally," She told Alison, "Maybe if I show him our sincerity, he'll consider."
***
"No," Jun Slater stated without even looking up from his papers.
His exhausted looking assistant looked vaguely apologetic, but didn't look at Sienna either.
She took a deep breath, restraining the urge to sigh or frown or both. Most popular celebrity or not, he hadn't even looked at the brief or her once!
What a rude kid.
Kid wasn't the right word to describe the tall man with generously lashed dark eyes and bronze skin. A single look from him could send women swooning and panties dropping, such was the power of Jun Slater.
But the way he behaved was so immature that in Sienna's opinion, he was just a childish boy in a man's body.
"I'll leave the materials here so please look through them before you make your final decision," Sienna told him politely, "Here's my card, please get in touch to let me know your final decision."
Without giving him time to reject her again, Sienna slipped out and left, hoping it would force him to actually give them a chance.
Back in the room, Jun didn't even give Sienna's material a second glance and simply headed out to the car.
His weary assistant packed the documents neatly into a folder and hurried after his employer, carrying the folder just in case his temperamental celebrity decided to take a look at it.
Personally, the assistant had been quite impressed by Miss Astor, but Jun had enough power and influence to do things on a whim.
On set, Vivianne was never more than three metres away from Jun unless the scene called for it. Otherwise, everywhere he turned, she was there, flipping her hair or seductively drinking water or adjusting her heels suggestively with her foot propped on a chair.
It was like trying to avoid an ad when watching a YouTube video. Impossible.
By the third scene they filmed, Jun was already Extremely Annoyed. Even though he didn't answer Vivianne very much or gave very curt and non-committal answers, Vivianne was still determined to flit around him like an obsessed bee around a flower.
"Jun, what do you like to do in your free time? Maybe we can hang out," Vivianne purred, one hand on his bicep.
"Sleep. Alone," Jun said coldly before walking away.
"Jun, have some coffee to energise you!" Vivianne presented a cup with heart shapes drawn on it, "I don't need any because I'm always ready to go."
Jun ignored the suggestive phrasing, "I don't drink coffee."
"Jun, let's have supper after filming," Vivianne batted her long lashes, "There's a restaurant in this hotel that has really good-"
"I don't eat after eight in the evening," Jun cut her off and left, leaving her to stomp her foot.
By nighttime, Jun's poor assistant was afraid he was going to have to physically restrain his boss from throttling Vivianne or call his lawyer to settle with Vivianne's lawyer when Jun murdered her.
So when Vivianne waltzed up to Jun as he was getting his make up done for the final scene, the pitiful assistant took one look at her modified costume that caused her breasts to be pushed up higher than could be comfortable, and decided to do anything he could to keep his job and his employer out of jail.
"Are you getting tired, Jun?" She asked throatily, her green eyes lined with dark lashes, "You must have had a long day. Want a massage?"
"Ah no, it's okay!" The assistant practically leapt in front of Vivianne, "Mr Slater is not comfortable with people touching him."
When Vivianne's eyes narrowed, he hurried on, "It's not been too long a day, thank you for asking."
Something about her green eyes looked so familiar that he was adding before he even realized, "We just met with a CEO earlier, that's all."
"Ooh, Jun must be in high demand. If a CEO personally makes the time to come and meet you," She looked vaguely annoyed that she was stuck talking to Jun's assistant instead of Jun.
The anxiety caused the panicking assistant to ramble on, "Yes, Miss Astor was very sincere."
Then he stopped short, Vivianne's surname was also Astor! Could they be…
"Sienna?" Vivianne laughed a bit sharply, "She must be desperate after trying to start her company."
"Don't bother, Jun," Vivianne waved her hand like she was shooing a fly, "Her business will fold and she'll focus on being a good daughter-in-law for the Wrights soon enough."
For the first time in the entire day, apart from during filming, Jun looked at Vivianne.
"The Wrights?" He asked.
Vivianne was delighted. Finally, I have his attention, she thought with triumph. Maybe he's interested in the Wright family.
"Yes, of Wright Enterprises," She boasted, "Sienna is my sister. She just married Damon Wright, so I'm technically related to Wright Enterprises too."
Jun was silent for a while and then he stood up, throwing his trademark leather jacket over his shoulder.
"Find out where she is right now," He ordered the bewildered secretary.